'Killing Them Softly' Could Earn Brad Pitt His First Oscar

After Killing Them Softly received a 10 minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, it appears Oscar buzz is growing early for a man that has yet to hoist an Academy Award: Brad Pitt.

Killing Them Softly, which also stars Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini and Richard Jenkins, follows a mob enforcer (Pitt) sent to clean-up a mob-protected poker game after a robbery. The film has received some flak for being set in 2008 and centering on the recent economic downturn, with some wondering if the story was taking shots at President Obama.

"Only part of that is true. The movie sets Obama's 2008 Democratic National Convention speech against a landscape of greed and violence but this wasn't an attempt to criticize Obama, but rather the footage was used as a real expression of hope," Pitt said.